News & Ideas

- or -“Ideas are born, strategies are elucidated, stories are crafted and concepts are germinated.”

We are the stories we tell. We believe that great creative has a face. And a voice. And a hand you can shake or high five or simply hold tight to. And that great creative begets good brands. And so good brands have a heart. So they can love you back.

Blog & News Posts

Boise, Idaho was not high on my travel bucket wish list. But when Kirsten Furlong, Gallery Director at Boise State University, asked to host an exhibition of mine I happily said “Yes!” Organizing international poster shows is a personal passion which has led to visiting some far-flung cities, including Havana, Tehran, Moscow, and Istanbul.

The perception is that testing kills great creative work. Focus groups lean towards the safe—the average person reacts more positively to familiar concepts. And eye-tracking studies can be frustratingly vague: So people spent 2.3 seconds staring at the violator? Does that mean they like it? Or is it just confusing? Maybe it’s so awful you can’t turn away, like watching Paris Hilton milk a cow?

Cosmopolitan design fans, that is. And it’s going to be amazing. Before you reach for your umbrella, keep in mind we’re talking about the Seattle-Havana-Tehran Poster Show at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival this weekend, organized and curated by Tether’s own Daniel R. Smith, along with Pepe Menendez of Havana and Iman Raad of Tehran. These three cross-border…

By: Bo Gilliland, Senior Writer Ever notice how voices on the radio have a certain sameness? Honey-toned tonsils. Soothing and well enunciated, with just a hint of a smile behind the words. It’s all very professional, and that’s the problem. Great actors, on the other hand, sound natural—like someone you might know. They make the…

If you own a refrigerator, or know someone who owns a refrigerator, you’re probably familiar with the Cat Butts magnet set by Blue Q. In hindsight it ranks. As one of the most well-received American novelty products of the 90s. While provoking considerable mirth in the decades since they exploded onto the exteriors of chilled…

When Gail asked me to be a part of his Squatch Watch team, I was reluctant. After all, what did I know about hunting—and Sasquatch nonetheless. The biggest thing I’d ever hunted for were my socks. But I agreed because I’d never met anyone who believed in something with such passion and disgust before. Plus,…

By Colin Day, Associate Creative Director Before getting together with the Microsoft Stories team, I imagined that most corporations were helpless to create their own content without sounding, well, “corporatey.” Every brand has a story to tell, but with so many corporate stories, it’s natural to feel like, “haven’t I heard this one before?” While heaps of research dollars…

When @KevinDanielsSea came to us for help branding The Mark, they wanted buzz around a new community hub in downtown’s south end. Didn’t know they’d go as far as actual bees, but we’re excited they did. Our rooftop bees will be over shortly to say hello. https://t.co/hhdYFiVP30

RT @aigaseattle: Just two days left until we welcome @StefanGBucher for a behind-the-scenes look at Letterheads: An Eccentric Alphabet. Joi…

Not bad! We took home three #SeattleADDYs this year for our C1N and Curry4 work with @UnderArmour. What a great opportunity to do our multidisciplinary thing, with strategy, writing, and design all contributing. Check it out for yourself. https://t.co/SVYOF6PigE